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Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red Bull (the other being Scuderia Toro Rosso). The team became the 2010 Formula One Constructors' Championship winner in only their sixth year of competition, becoming the first Austrian team to win the title. The team also produced the 2010 F1 world champion driver, Sebastian Vettel. The team is based in Milton Keynes in the UK but holds an Austrian licence. The team is managed by Christian Horner, boss of the Arden International GP2 Series team. The team uses Renault engines. History 'Origins' The current Red Bull team can trace its origins back to the Stewart Grand Prix outfit that made its debut in 1997. Jackie Stewart sold his team to the Ford Motor Company late in 1999, and Ford made the decision to rebrand the team Jaguar Racing, with little subsequent success over the next five years. The Jaguar Racing Formula One constructor and racing team was put up for sale in September 2004 when its owner, the Ford Motor Company, decided it could "no longer make a compelling business case for any of its brands to compete in F1." Red Bull, an energy drinks company, agreed its purchase of Jaguar Racing on the final day of the sale, 15 November 2004. BBC Sport reported that Ford asked bidders for a symbolic US$1 in return for a commitment to invest US$400 million in the team over three grand prix seasons. The team continued to have access to the Cosworth engine developed for their 2005 chassis, and the operation continued under the new title. Christian Horner was installed as the new Team boss and lined up David Coulthard and Christian Klien to drive for the team. Red Bull Racing was not the start of Red Bull's involvement in open-wheel racing. Setting up a Formula One team of its own meant that Red Bull had to end its long-term partnership with the Sauber Formula One team. The drinks company also runs a young drivers programme, Red Bull Junior Team, whereby Red Bull sponsors promising young drivers. High-profile drivers who have received this backing include Enrique Bernoldi, Christian Klien, Patrick Friesacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. Red Bull also sponsors many drivers and teams competing in the GP2 Series, Formula One's "feeder" series. '2005 Season' Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, reportedly tried to recruit former Formula One driver and BMW Motorsport chief (and fellow Austrian) Gerhard Berger to help guide the team through its debut season. However, this was never realised. For 2005, the chassis was christened the RB1. Red Bull Racing used Cosworth engines in its maiden year due to the ease of continuing with the engine Jaguar Racing used. Former McLaren driver David Coulthard led the team. Coulthard was chosen for his experience, considered ideal to help lead the fledgling team. For the second car, Red Bull shared the drive between two of its young sponsored drivers: Christian Klien, who had driven for Jaguar in 2004 and 2004 F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi. At first it was announced that Klien and Liuzzi would swap driving duty every four races, but by the end of the season Liuzzi had appeared only four times. Red Bull's first year in Formula One was a massive success compared to their predecessors, Jaguar Racing. They were 6th in the Constructors Championship for most of the season, only beaten by the fast-improving BAR Hondas at the end of the season. In a single season they amassed more points than Jaguar had in 2003 and 2004. Coulthard, after a poor 2003 and 2004 with McLaren, was a revelation for the team while Klien showed that he had vastly improved from 2004. Overall they scored 34 points; 24 for Coulthard, 9 for Klien and 1 for Liuzzi. Red Bull was a consistent points and occasional podium challenger for most of their debut season. American driver Scott Speed, who rose through the ranks in the American equivalent of Red Bull Junior Team, Red Bull Driver Search, was Red Bull Racing's third driver in 2005 for the Canadian and United States Grand Prix. Speed was attractive to Red Bull because of his American nationality, which would raise the profile of both Red Bull and Formula One in America, a market where the sport has traditionally struggled to make an impact. '2006 Season' On 23 April 2005, the team announced a deal to use Ferrari engines in 2006. This coincided with a rule change mandating the use of V8 engines, making it likely that both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari would use the same specification engine. Red Bull Racing continued to use Michelin tyres, rather than the Bridgestones used by Ferrari. On 8 November 2005, Red Bull Racing poached Adrian Newey, the highly successful McLaren technical director. On 15 December 2005, the team's second car, the Red Bull RB2, hit the track for the first time. David Coulthard completed a handful of laps of the Silverstone circuit in England, and declared the new car was a "sexy looking thing". In early testing Red Bull was plagued with cooling problems and overheating of car components. At the opening race of the 2006 season in Bahrain, Christian Klien qualified eighth (ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault and both BMWs). Coulthard had problems when he flat spotted a tyre fighting with Nick Heidfeld, and finished 10th; the cooling problems returned when his Ferrari engine expired on the slowing down lap, forcing a grid penalty for the following race. In Malaysia, Coulthard made up several places from back of the grid but was forced to retire with hydraulic problems, while Klien had an opening lap incident with Kimi Räikkönen and after pitting for repairs also retired with hydraulic failure. Coulthard got a point in the Australian Grand Prix after Scott Speed was penalised for passing him under the yellow flags. The following races were marred with retirements and lowly finishes. Coulthard finished 3rd at the Monaco Grand Prix, the team's first podium finish. Team boss Christian Horner said before the race that if one of his cars were to finish on the podium, he would jump in to a swimming pool at the track naked. He ended up jumping into the pool wearing only a red cape. Coincidentally both Stewart Grand Prix and Jaguar, the team's predecessors, also scored their maiden podiums at that race. Coulthard scored a point at Montreal, passing Jenson Button in the closing stages of the race despite starting in last place due to an engine change that warranted a grid penalty. Klien also fared well, driving the second RB2 to 11th position. At the US Grand Prix Klien retired along with eight other cars including Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed on the first lap after a series of first corner incidents. Coulthard finished 7th. The team finished 7th in the FIA Constructors Championship, with 16 points, five points ahead of the struggling Williams team. David Coulthard (14pts) finished in 13th place in the drivers' standings, the departed Klien (2pts) classified in 18th position. Klien's replacement, Robert Doornbos, failed to score any points. '2007 Season' 2007 saw the debut of the Adrian Newey designed RB3. After lengthy discussions over Red Bull Racing's obligation to continue to use Ferrari engines for 2007, the team announced on 31 August 2006 they would use Renault engines for the 2007 season, the Ferrari contract being passed to Scuderia Toro Rosso. The team announced on August 7, 2006 that it had signed Mark Webber to drive alongside David Coulthard for the 2007 season, replacing Christian Klien who ended his association with the team. Klien was replaced by Robert Doornbos for the last three races of 2006. Doornbos became the team's non-racing third driver for 2007. Despite qualifying in 7th place for his home race in Melbourne, Mark Webber finished down in 13th due to a persistent problem with a fuel flap that closed as the pit mechanics went to put the fuel in and when it was opened it remained open until the next pit stop greatly increasing drag and decreasing airflow over the rear wing. It was worse for David Coulthard however, who crashed heavily with Williams's Alexander Wurz in the late stages of the race. Malaysia was more of the same for Webber, while Coulthard retired with brake problems. However in Bahrain the team showed improving pace and Coulthard and Webber were running 7th (with Coulthard starting from the back) and 8th respectively before reliability problems put both out of the race in quick succession. However in testing at Barcelona Coulthard has set the fastest lap in the new configuration of the circuit (since superseded by Felipe Massa). Coulthard secured the team's first points by scoring a gritty 5th with a faulty gearbox on his closing laps in Spain, while Webber was dogged with hydraulic problems all weekend, eventually retiring from the race after failing to set a competitive lap in qualifying. The performance hike the team has experienced at the Catalonian track has left both drivers and team optimistic about their future results, with reliability troubles being as much a focus as the increase of their already competitive pace. Red Bull Racing further strengthened their technical department by hiring Geoff Willis as Technical Director on July 17, 2007. After this, the drivers seemed to have a stroke of good luck during the unpredictable and exciting 2007 European Grand Prix in which Webber finished 3rd, his second career podium. Coulthard backed it up with a strong 5th which was made all the more impressive by the fact he started 20th on the grid after the team mistakenly kept him in the pits too long resulting in him not being able to complete another qualifying lap. Red Bull had a strong end to the season. Webber came close to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, but he was involved in a crash with Sebastian Vettel. During the same race, Coulthard again demonstrated his wet-weather ability and finished 4th. At the Chinese Grand Prix, Red Bull had a competitive qualifying session. Coulthard achieving 5th on the grid, along with Webber in 9th. '2008 Season' Red Bull continued with the same drivers in 2008 and had numbers 9 and 10 on their cars after finishing 5th in the 2007 constructors championship. Red Bull presented the RB4 at the Jerez circuit on January 16 and announced that Sébastien Buemi would be their test and reserve driver for 2008 combining it with his GP2 drive with the Arden International GP2 team. After Webber retired from the opening round he went on to score 5 consecutive points finishes. David Coulthard had a tougher start to the 2008 campaign due to poor qualifying, but a 3rd place at Canada gave Red Bull their first podium since the 2007 European Grand Prix. At the half-way mark, the team had notched up 24 points (the same as their total for the 2007 season) and were locked in a fierce battle with Toyota and Renault for 4th in the constructors championship. The team had also resolved the reliability problems that had dogged them the previous year. However, as the season progressed, Red Bull failed to keep up with their competitors. Red Bull scored just 5 points in the last 10 races, and Toro Rosso (the Red Bull 'B team') had overhauled their total by the season's end and won the rain-affected Italian Grand Prix, becoming the first Red Bull-owned team to win a race. This fact led many to claim that the Renault engine powering the Red Bull was lacking in horsepower compared to the Ferrari and Mercedes engines. For the 2009 season, Renault were allowed to equalise the difference in engine power compared to their competitors after the 10 year freeze in engine development from 2007. Webber notched up his 50th top ten grid position in 107 Grands Prix at the Spanish Grand Prix. Coulthard announced his retirement from F1 at the British Grand Prix and, despite hopes for a strong final home Grand Prix, was forced to retire on the first lap, which also occurred at his final grand prix in Brazil where he retired at the second corner. '2009 Season' Red Bull Racing launched their new RB5 chassis virtually on February 8 by means of a 3D computer generated video narrated by Sebastian Vettel. The physical launch of the car was held the next day. The team secured their first ever pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel, posting the fastest time with just a single qualifying lap in Q3. Mark Webber qualified in third on the grid. The next day, Vettel won, with Webber second.Vettel's victory, in rain-soaked conditions, marked the team's first-ever win. In the next race at Bahrain after qualifying 3rd, Vettel finished second behind Jenson Button and collected another eight world championship points. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Webber and Vettel finished third and fourth respectively, after having qualified fifth and second. In Turkey, Webber and Vettel finished second and third respectively. At the British Grand Prix the car had new upgrades and Sebastian Vettel won after qualifying on pole position, ending championship leader Jenson Button's run of four straight wins. The team scored another 1–2 at the German Grand Prix with Mark Webber (who scored his first win despite being given a drive-through penalty earlier on) leading home Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber also took his second Formula One victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Another 1–2 finish for the team was achieved at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, this time with Vettel finishing ahead of Webber. Vettel finished second in the Drivers' Championship with 84 points, 11 behind Jenson Button. Mark Webber finished fourth with 69.5 points. The team also finished second in the Constructors' Championship with 153.5 points, 18.5 points behind Brawn GP. '2010 Season' For the 2010 season, the team retained both Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, with Renault remaining the engine supplier for Red Bull Racing. The RB6 chassis proved to be the best handling car on the grid, having a noticeable advantage over that of McLaren and Ferrari. At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel took pole position while Webber took sixth in qualifying. Vettel led the race until he slowed due to his spark-plug failure, while the two Ferraris and Hamilton overtook Vettel. Vettel finished fourth, and Webber finished eighth. In Australia, Vettel again took pole, with Webber in second position. Vettel led the race and again looked set to take the race, but he reported a vibration of one of the front wheels on his car. The problem seemed to subside, and the decision was made to keep him on the track rather than pit him. A few corners later, the problem struck again, and Vettel ran off the track and subsequently retired, due to brake failure. Webber got wheelspin off the line, and gave up one position on the run to the first right-handed corner. Subsequent errors led to him dropping a few more places, and near the end of the race he crashed with Lewis Hamilton, destroying his front wing. He pitted to get a new one, and finished ninth, scoring two points. In Malaysia, Webber took pole with Vettel in third position. Vettel managed to pass both Rosberg and Webber before the first corner, leading for all bar two laps en route to victory. Webber led the other two laps and eventually finished second, with the team moving into third in the constructors championship. The team once again scored pole positions in China (Vettel), Spain (Webber) and Monaco (Webber), taking their run of pole positions to six consecutive races. With Mark Webber winning in Spain as well as in Monaco. At the Turkish Grand Prix, Webber again took pole position, with Vettel third on the grid. Following the pit stops, Webber and Vettel were running first and second until lap 40, when Vettel attempted to overtake Webber, leading to a collision between the two. Webber finished third, while Vettel was forced to retire. At the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain, Vettel won from pole position. Webber collided with the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen, flipping his Red Bull car into a somersault before landing and crashing into a tyre barrier. At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Vettel took pole position but after a bad start he got a puncture and subsequently dropped to the back of the field, eventually finishing seventh. Webber, who started from second, won the race after leading for the entire race. At the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, Vettel again took pole position and was leading until the safety car came out. He was second behind Webber, who started second, and was then given a drive through penalty for exceeding the ten car maximum distance between himself and the safety car. This cost him second place and he finished third. Webber won the race after using his super-soft tyres for over half the race to build up a lead to keep him ahead after his stop. Webber won with Fernando Alonso ten seconds behind in second place. The Belgian Grand Prix saw Webber claim pole position, despite McLaren and Ferrari having a straight-line speed advantage. At the start, the anti-stall device on Webber's car came on, dropping the Australian to 5th. Vettel meanwhile in 3rd was chasing Jenson Button for 2nd place when he collided with the Brit at the Bus Stop. After sensing an inside passing opportunity, Vettel attempted to quickly change direction whilst under braking, causing the car to spear into the side of Button's McLaren. Button retired from the race, while Vettel was able to pit for repairs. He subsequently received a drive-through penalty for his action, and suffered a rear tyre puncture whilst attempting to overtake Vitantonio Liuzzi, finishing 15th. Webber was able to capitalise on the DNF of Button and Alonso, as well as a mistake by Renault's Robert Kubica during his pit stop, and finish 2nd, behind race winner Hamilton. At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Webber had a bad start and was 9th from 4th place on the grid after the first lap. Vettel had brake binding problems for a short period, around lap 20, and he too dropped back a place but was then back on the pace. Webber was held back by Hülkenberg in the latter part of the race, until he passed, and finished 6th. Vettel stayed out on soft tyres until the penultimate lap, doing better lap times than Webber and overtaking Mark when he pitted, to finish fourth. At the Brazilian Grand Prix in São Paulo, Red Bull Racing became Constructors Champions for the first time after Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished 1-2 in the race, enough to finish ahead of McLaren and Ferrari. In doing so Red Bull became the first Austrian team to win the Formula One constructors championship. Team boss Christian Horner stated that the main goal had been achieved and that now his remaining aim was to win the drivers championship and put the icing on the cake of Red Bull's year. In some other teams the drivers would have been told to change positions, with the purpose of improving better placed Mark Webber's chances to win the driver's title in the last race, but the team insisted that the faster driver should win the race, and kept being reluctant to give any orders of the kind "let your teammate pass" to their drivers. In the final race at Abu Dhabi, Sebastian Vettel won the race and the Formula 1 Drivers Championship. Red Bull finished the year with a total of 9 Grand Prix victories with five going to Sebastian Vettel and four going to Mark Webber. Red Bull claimed a total of 15 pole positions with 10 going to Vettel and five going to Webber. The team scored six fastest laps three scored by Vettel and three scored by Webber. Horner also praised the sportsmanship of both drivers stating that they conducted themselves in a well orderly and mannered fashion. ﻿ Category:Formula One Constructors Category:Constructors Champions